It’s official: I now have an 8-year-old. Time to go update my About section 🙂
Buddy was the lucky beneficiary of a weekend-long birthday celebration, which started on Friday morning and finally concluded when he went to bed last night.
On Friday morning, I headed to Buddy’s second grade classroom as a surprise mystery reader — a lovely and thoughtful option his teacher offers to parents as a way to celebrate and recognize your child’s birthday. Since Buddy’s birthday was on Sunday, and I can work from home on Fridays, this was the perfect arrangement.
His face when he saw me peek through the open classroom door was priceless. He started waving frantically and was grinning from ear to ear, and I took a moment to appreciate that, knowing that before too long, my appearance at school will likely be met with feelings of dread and embarrassment, not excitement.
His teacher led me to a rocking chair and the kids seated themselves on the rug in front of me, looking at me expectantly.
Luckily I had come prepared.
If you’re a parent and you haven’t read a Robert Munsch book, then head to Amazon or your local library now. His books are perfect for younger elementary students, especially second graders. They’re longer than a picture book, have some element of repetition (whether it’s in the plot or the dialogue) so the kids know what to expect, and they are awfully silly and sweet.
I came in expecting to read one story from Munschworks 2 (“Purple, Green and Yellow”), but immediately when I was done, a boy raised his hand and asked if I could read one more. So I did (“Mortimer”). And then I read one more (“Something Good”). And through it all, I had my special birthday helper by my side.
The class was so attentive and giggled at all the right parts … it couldn’t have gone better. I’m so lucky I got to experience that.
Buddy’s birthday fun continued to Saturday, where after a crazy morning of soccer practice and karate, he was ready to whoop it up with 11 of his second grade buddies.
Yes, for the first time, I decided to host his birthday party at my house, rather than going to one of the local kids clubs or gyms or karate studios. I did some research on entertainment (video games buses that park in your driveway, etc.) and decided to go with Mad Science, a national chain that delivers hands-on science experiments and fun to kids.
So basically, perfect for my science-loving kid.
After the boys played some tag and ate some pizza, our scientist Thea arrived and began doing a few experiments for the kids.
The grand finale? Making your own slime.
After all the boys had made their slime, Thea gathered them all over to the lawn for a rocket blast-off.
Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with the rocket launch, but overall, I was happy with our Mad Science experience. It was something different for the boys, and really, anyone (or anything) that can hold the attention of 12 7- and 8-year-old boys for close to an hour is success in my book.
After enjoying a dinosaur cupcake cake (seriously, best invention ever — just break apart and serve!), we played some kids vs. parents kickball, and then the boys all left with their slime and a goody bag, which I admit I was pretty proud of. In keeping with the scientist theme, the boys all got a test tube of mini M&Ms, some rock candy, two packets of Pop Rocks, several boxes of Nerds and a few rolls of Smarties. And their slime, of course.
(Can I just tell you how convenient it is to have a kid whose birthday falls during the time the stores have all their Halloween candy and merchandise out?)
The next day, the birthday boy received his birthday breakfast of choice — “orange” (pumpkin) pancakes — while I told him all about the day he was born. Of course, being an 8-year-old boy, this story was was greeted with a combination of indifference and boredom, while I, of course, found myself getting teary-eyed. Sigh. At least Mimi piped up, “Tell me my story!”
After lunch, Buddy’s birthday entourage (which now included his parents, sister, two grandmothers, aunt, uncle and cousin) headed to his soccer game, where the team celebrated with some mini-cupcakes I had brought for after the game. Which, naturally, was followed back up at home with Carvel ice cream cake and more presents.
But no kid birthday in our family is complete without our annual birthday survey of top likes and favorites from the past year. I love how so many of his responses have remained the same for years (favorite color, favorite fruit, favorite stuffed animal, best friend) while others have changed so much (favorite movie, birthday dinner, favorite cereal). (I grabbed this awesome template — which is slightly different from ones I’ve used in the past — from Paper Nook).
Dollops of Diane says
Glad to hear the party was a hit! Stratego was my favorite game as a kid. I still have it in the basement and can’t wait for my kids to be a little older to play 🙂